Boeing has sent instructions to airlines using its 737 Max jet about how pilots should react to erroneous readings from sensors, an issue investigators believe was a key factor in the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, in which all 189 people on board were killed. Boeing said it had issued an operations manual bulletin, advising pilots on how to deal with “erroneous input from an angle of attack (AOA) sensor”. An AOA giving out erroneous data can lead to incorrect speed readings, potentially causing confusion among the flight crew and a rapid loss of altitude. But he warned a fatal accident might ensue due to a “startled reaction” from the pilot, or if flight crew were not sufficiently well trained to perform the required checks. Lion Jet’s Boeing 737 Max8 crashed into the Java Sea just 13 minutes after take-off, indicating pilots would have limited time to identify the issue and react correctly.

Source: The Guardian November 07, 2018 05:26 UTC